Epicurious Runner

Hood To Coast Recap Part 3

Things started getting a bit blurry after Nicole finished her 2nd leg. I think most of the van fell asleep, well at least I did. Nicole let me use her pillow like 90% of the time, so I was extremely thankful for that! We hit some traffic heading to the final van exchange and Jay was a trooper and got us through it while suffering with no sleep at all.

It was pure daylight by the time we reached the exchange, I hit up the bathroom and was trying to decide if I wanted to try and sleep more. Van 1 of Team Noon was there also, so I decided to stay up and hang out with them while we waited for our runners to come in.

Once we set Tricia off on her final leg, things started moving quickly! We celebrated with Tricia that she was completely done running and then Corey was off. She’s speedy, so my turn was coming up soon. Ready for my 3rd and final leg!

I don’t know why I have a rock and it also looks like I have a shaved head. Jocelyn sprayed me with some sun block and Corey came sprinting in as I was off on my last Hood to Coast leg.

I thought this leg would be a bit easier than it was. It was deceivingly hilly and the sun was very bright and warm, but it was a beautiful leg! I saw cows, lots of fields and pretty hills. This is also the leg where I actually got some roadkill! I think I passed 3 people (all men)! It was the hardest run mentally, I kept repeating to myself, “this is it”, you are DONE after this!

I was forcing myself to appreciate the scenery and to really soak it all in. I started off strong in the beginning, but was definitely slowing down by the end.

This is my Garmin elevation:

This is what HTC said the elevation profile looked like:

There were a lot of rolling hills on Leg 27, but I made it in a decent time and I was so happy to be done!

• Leg #27
• Distance: 5.96
• Time: 54:21
• Avg. Pace: 9:07

I  celebrated with a Fat Tire beer and one of the best brownies I’ve ever had!

I’m sure you guys are sick of hearing about HTC by now, so lets wrap this up. The rest of our van finished strong and we celebrated with Team Noon at the last big van exchange. We were all so happy to be done running and heading back to Seaside to shower and wait for the rest of our team to come in and finish.

Team Brunch Finished!

After one of the best showers of my life, I headed over to the beach with everyone else. A bunch of people brought beer over in plastic cups and they apparently weren’t allowed to bring it into the finish area, so I graciously helped everyone drink all of their beer. It’s the nice thing to do, right?

Chillin’ on the beach with the NYC girls!

Eventually our last runner came sprinting in to the finish line and our whole team finished together!

And just like that, we finished Hood to Coast!

We were invited into the Nike tent to eat and drink, so we all headed there after. I ate ribs, beans, and lots of other delicious bbq food. I also had 2 beers and snagged 2 free pint glasses! It was getting cold though, so I headed back to the condos with a few of the other girls where we were just gonna call it a night. Somehow, Corey and Emily convinced me to go out to the bar to continue the celebration!

Lauren and I

This whole experience was one of the best weeks of my life! I know that sounds crazy and maybe a bit dramatic, but it really isn’t. I had so much fun! It was incredible to meet so many amazing women from across the country and to meet everyone at Nuun. I did not want it to end! It was one of the most memorable weekends ever and I feel so lucky and grateful to have been part of it all.

This wraps up the race, but there may or may not be 1 more post about this whole experience.

Hood To Coast Recap Part 2

We left off just before dinner…

I think we were all getting a little cranky because of how long it took us to get food! I guess, in retrospect it wasn’t actually that long, but we ended up driving into Portland and we were all more than ready for a real meal by that point.

We also drove by Voodoo Donuts, but unfortunately the line was 40 minutes long So sad, I got so excited when we stopped by it, I thought just maybe I could go in and grab a Maple Bacon Donut. Must. Go. Back.

We ended up at Portland Sports Bar and Grill and it was surprisingly empty inside, so all of us took over the tables, while Jocelyn and I started joking that the waitress was probably so annoyed and ready to go home at that point. I ordered the Ranch Chicken Wrap with a side of spicy Tater Tots.

The tots were the best part! The wrap was okay, it was dry and falling apart, but it did the trick and it settled well, so that’s a win.

Oiselle #Stripey twins with Sarah.

We headed off to another major van exchange and some of us settled in a bit to try and sleep, but it didn’t end up being very successful.

Tricia ended up rushing out on her leg since XLMIC ran her leg way faster than we thought! We then rushed to the next exchange since it was a short leg and Corey was up next. All of these legs happened so fast! I was starting to get a bit nervous because my longest and scariest leg was coming up quickly!

Corey before leg #14 with Molly and Sarah.

Luckily, our van driver/swimmer extraordinaire, Jay, agreed to run my leg with me I was so happy to have some company, I was definitely a bit nervous to run in the dark for over 7 miles.

We got all geared up with lights and reflective vests and I went from dreading this run to excited in a matter of 2 minutes. I don’t know where my adrenaline came from, but I tried to share some with Laura because she was not looking forward to this run. It was a bit chilly, but I was trying to channel all of the hot and sweaty days I had been running through back in NYC. I made myself appreciate the cold and before I knew it, I was off…without Jay.

I thought maybe I left before anyone realized it, but I wasn’t sure where he was. I saw a police car up ahead and it pulled over, flashed it’s lights, but I just assumed it was pulling a car over or something. The police car pulled away and as I ran to that same spot, I saw a green sparkly skirt hiding behind a sign and right then Jay emerged wearing his Team Sparkle skirt and ready to run with me! I had no idea he had ran up there!

It turned out to be an amazing run! I tried to keep a steady pace, I didn’t want to start out too fast, especially since I knew there would be a lot of rolling hills. Jay had never run more than 10 miles before, but this run was just the start of his miles for the race. He also ran about 10 more miles with Caitlin during 2 of her legs!

Anyway, I had some minor stomach issues, like I was going to puke or something, it slowed me down a bit, but I pushed through and was happy with how it went overall. This ended up being one of my best runs! The miles ticked away like nothing and it was over before I knew it.

• Leg #15
• Distance: 7.28 miles
• Time: 63:xx
• Avg. Pace: 8:40!

I discovered these at some point during the night.

Caitlin was eating them and I asked what they were. Nicole couldn’t believe I had never had them. She described them as being similar to Starbursts. After a mini search party, they found some more, so I could have some! And um, yes, these things were really good, even better than Starbursts! I’m not sure if they are available on the east coast (?) so Seattle-ites, please send me some!

At around 3 or 4am, we all started becoming delirious! We had a laughing fit over Nicole massaging her butt with Ben Gay and we created the #dontshityourpants hashtag, which was probably due to all of those dried mangoes.

Also, Nicole had busted out all of her fun glow stick “weapons”, she had an axe and a trident! I don’t know how I didn’t get a picture of these, but they did warrant this amazing quote that had us giggling for a good half hour.

Okay, so maybe you had to be there! But, it was the middle of the night and mermen weapons were a hilarious topic apparently.

This was a great bonding moment for our van! I couldn’t have asked for a better van, I love all of you girls (and Jay) and I can’t wait for the time when we can all meet up again. Tricia, Jess, Corey, Caitlin, and Nicole.

Up next: the final legs and the Nuun/Nike beach party!

Nuun Hood to Coast Recap Part 1

*Disclaimer: I thought I was going to be able to recap this whole trip in 2 posts, but I just have too much to say! I’m not going to change the way I write or the way I want to post these recaps because people get annoyed by multiple recaps. These posts are for me too, so this is just the way it’s going to be.

The van 1′s were on schedule to leave at 8am Friday morning and luckily all of my roommates were also in Van 1! So we all got up around 7am and finished packing up our stuff and headed downstairs to the lobby to meet the rest of our teammates.

Roomies: Lauren, Me, Vanessa, Jocelyn

Also, notice our pretty sweet Nuun HTC jackets?! They are Nike jackets that were provided to us by Nuun and I LOVE them! I wore mine all weekend and I may still be wearing it all this week took too (and without washing it). Don’t judge.

We piled into our respective vans and set off for Mt. Hood, but not without stopping like 6 times for bathroom/food breaks. I was very glad I wasn’t the only one who had to pee every 3o minutes. TMI?

Once we arrived at Mt. Hood, it finally hit me that the RACE was actually here. We were about to race the ‘Mother of all relays’!

Seeing the top of the mountain was breathtaking! It was beautiful and I felt like we were so close to the top. Like, I could literally just go run to the top and touch it. Also, crazy that it had huge patches of snow.  It was definitely the perfect picture opportunity.

We hit up the “Honey Buckets” (best name ever), got ourselves tatted up, took group pictures, including this amazing one of all the van 1′s; Team Morning, Noon, and Night ready to go!

Probably my favorite picture of the trip!

Team Night started at 2:15 and we all cheered as Caroline took off on their first leg. Team Morning (my team) was next at 2:30 and we screamed our lungs out as Tricia set off representing our team! Team Noon was next at 2:45, but before they started, we jumped in our vans so we could make it to the first exchange in time.

Corey was jumping out of her skin because of how excited she was for her first leg! She could not wait for Tricia to get back, since she was up next. We sent her off with a giant smile on her face! Her enthusiasm definitely rubbed off on me and I was a mix of nerves and excitement while I was waiting for my first leg (Leg #3) to begin.

I almost forgot to put my bib on! Jay ran back to the van to grab it for me! I put it on and anxiously stood on the sideline waiting for Corey to come in. I had no idea what to expect! I just wanted to be running and in some sort of groove, so I could put these nerves to the side and be on my way.

Ready to run!

I loved the Team Sparkle Skirts! I’m not ashamed to admit it, but of course not everyone has to like them, but they totally helped us spot our runners coming in for the exchange and they of course unified us as a team. We also got some really great socks from Thorlo and they were super comfy and were way better than the socks I brought and my awesomely bright shirt is from Target that I bought like 2 days before flying out to Seattle.

I’m literally cheering as I took off on my first run. Such a fun picture!

Not sure who took this picture, but I stole it from Corey‘s blog, so thanks Corey

My path through the exchange was very narrow and there were lots of people walking in it, which was weird and made me feel like I was going the wrong way. I had to kind of yell at one lady because she wasn’t paying attention and was walking right towards me as I was flying down the mountain. Once I got out of the exchange area, I felt much more relaxed.

I was literally flying! It was all downhill, but an easy downhill, so it didn’t destroy my legs. Maybe about a mile into the run, Laura passed me and we both gave each other a shout of encouragement. I was hoping to run this leg in under 8 min/miles and after the first mile, I knew it was more than possible!

If you read my blog, you know I don’t run like this! Here are my amazing (for me) splits:

Mile 1: 7:28

Mile 2: 7:29

Mile 3: 7:36

Mile 4: 7:48

Mile .26: 1:56 (7:21 pace)

• Leg #3
• Distance: 4.26 miles
• Time: 32:20
• Avg. Pace: 7:35!
  

Elevation profile from my Garmin

I finished my run feeling like I was about to puke, but I still had a huge smile on my face! That was literally the fastest I’ve ever run, EVER! Yeah, it was all downhill, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t pushing and fighting to hold that pace till the end.

I handed off to Jess and we were off to the next exchange. Jess handed off to Caitlin, who was the rockstar #5 runner with the  hardest legs overall. Nicole was our last runner in the van, she waited for Caitlin with a brownie and she handed it off as she grabbed the slap bracelet and took off on her first leg.

Brownie exchange

Then we arrived at the first big van exchange. We saw the rest of our team (van 2) and they were pumped to actually start running. We hung there for a while before we decided to head into Portland for some much needed dinner.

Up next: Dinner, and Leg 2!

Pre-Hood To Coast: Team Bonding Activities

I’m not going to drag my recap out, but it’s definitely necessary to have it in 2 parts! So, lets start from the beginning…

First of all, I would just like to thank everyone at Nuun, you were all so amazing and everything exceeded my expectations! I honestly can never thank you enough! I am left with memories of one of the best weekends of my life!

I got on a plane Tuesday night with the other NYC ladies; Jocelyn, Laura, and Susan and we arrived at our hotel around 10pm Seattle time. Eventually, Lauren‘s flight came in and we all crashed in a tiny hotel room where most of us slept horribly. I was too giddy with excitement and was wide awake at 5am!

After being picked up, we started our morning with a (fast for me) 4 mile run. It was beautiful out and it was nice to just explore Seattle a bit by foot. We ended at Pike Place Market where we met up with Caroline and she so graciously bought me one of the best cappuccinos I’ve ever had, so thanks for that Caroline!

Next up was the Mariners baseball game at Safeco Field. I was excited for the game, but ended up paying absolutely no attention to it since I was now surrounded by so many wonderful ladies that were full of excitement and nerves all trying to get to know each other. I had a couple of good beers, including a Pyramid and Elysian. Not everyone had arrived at this point, but it was nice to talk to everyone there and sort of ease my way into the group. I’m not going to lie, it was definitely a bit intimidating, I am constantly fighting back my shyness and awkwardness, but I think I did just fine

We ended the night with food (and beer) over at the Pyramid brew house, which was conveniently located across from our hotel. I ate a delicious garlic-y pizza, but actually skipped out on the beer and drank some water instead. We were in bed by 9pm and I finally had a good nights sleep.

We were down in the lobby and ready to go at 7:45 the next morning. We were off to the Oiselle headquarters!!! I was so excited for this, I have recently become obsessed with their clothes and I was pumped to meet the wonderful women behind the business. Sally welcomed us with open arms, showed us around, and talked to us about the history of the company.

We then went for a group run around Green Lake, while a few others went swimming. It is a beautiful area, so while I got left in the dust, haha, it was still really nice to run along the water and soak in the surrounding area. I’m not a fast runner and I surely didn’t want to destroy my legs before the relay, so I took it nice and easy and was thinking about how nice it would be to live around there.

After about 4+ miles we returned to the Oiselle HQ where they had amazing shirts waiting for us! So sweet and unnecessary, but I was so thankful and also excited to have the opportunity for all of this.
We came back, enjoyed some Jamba Juice smoothies (Thanks Jennifer and Jamba Juice!) before heading up to our rooms to shower. At around 1pm we  showed up at Nuun and we received our ridiculously awesome swag bags! Then we were split up into teams and sent off on a scavenger hunt around Seattle.

I don’t know how we did it, but my team won! Maybe these pictures had a little something to do with it

Our scavenger hunt team: T, Vanessa, Harmony, Nicole, XLMIC, and me!

We each won a bag full of glow necklaces/bracelets, some bubbles, and a roll of toilet paper, ha!

Everyone was exhausted after the scavenger hunt! We shoveled down our pasta dinner and then headed outside to do some van decorating.

Before heading to bed, a few of us decided to go out and grab a beer at Pyramid to help ease us into our last night of good sleep before the big day! And of course, Gatsby was there

Thoughts: I loved having these 2 days of group activities! It really allowed us to get to know everyone and gave us a chance to mingle with people that weren’t going to be in our van. I felt like I got to talk to everyone at least a little bit! It really was a good team atmosphere and I never felt like I didn’t belong because everyone was so friendly and open to meeting everyone else. And I mean it when I say EVERYONE. It was a fantastic group of women that I was incredibly lucky to be a part of!

Part 2: The Relay coming up next!

HTC Is Here!

I know I’ve been gone lately, and honestly it’s due to either being busy or just not in the mood to blog. So, sorry?

Anyway, I just wrapped up week 7 of marathon training with an absolutely fantastic 18 mile run! The past 2 weeks have been very up and down in terms of my training. I had some stomach issues a couple days, some were due to eating too close to my run, others were more mysterious and my body just felt like rebelling. But, this past week has been a lot better, so let’s recap that!

Monday: Missed my vBarre class because I was dying sick.

Tuesday: 5 miles (3 x 1 mile repeats; 8:21, 8:13, 8:07) <– this was amazing!

Wednesday: 4 miles easy

Thursday: 10 miles total (6.2 miles in AM, 4 miles in the PM)

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 18 amazing miles!

Total: 37.2 miles

I did the NYRR Long Training Run and stuck with the 10 minute pace group for the first 15 miles. I was feeling really good the whole time, I think I fueled perfectly and my body felt super rested and loose, probably due to those 2 rest days prior. I originally had 16 scheduled, but my RC asked if I wanted to aim for 18 and I told her I would as long as I wasn’t absolutely spent at 16. I was just going to play it by ear.

I didn’t tell anyone I might aim for 18, I decided to keep it to myself just in case it didn’t happen. Well, at mile 15, I was feeling great and I took off from the pace group and ran a fast 3 miles to the finish.

Here are my splits:

LOVE that my last mile is the fastest! I was and still am on cloud 9, it was seriously a great run and I was so happy with how good I felt. I honestly contribute 75% of it to the weather. It was like 64 degrees and it definitely made a huge difference, especially compared to last weekends 16 mile slog fest in 100% humidity.

I’m sure I have lots more to say and catch up on, but the next most important thing to mention is that I am leaving for HOOD TO COAST tomorrow night!!!! I can’t believe it’s already here.

I’m so excited, it’s going to be a blast and I feel more than ready to tackle my 3 legs. I’ve been obsessing over packing because first of all, packing is hard generally, but when you add a relay into the mix, it gets even more complicated. Thankfully there are many posts out there written by others who have run several relays and know what they are doing, so I’ve been reading a lot of those. Trying to get the right amount of stuff packed without being over packed, but also having enough to make sure I am comfortable. Life is tough.

In case you didn’t see it, let’s revisit how I got accepted to run with Nuun in the first place! We all know it’s not from my page views and popularity of my blog, so please enjoy my fun video application that has allowed me to experience this opportunity.

I Love Great Divide!

Derek and I went to Rattle N Hum last night for their Great Divide event. Rattle N Hum is a great beer bar in midtown, so if you haven’t been, I highly recommend it. We left straight from work and we surprisingly found a nice little table that was just waiting for us to arrive.

We fell in love with Great Divide during our honeymoon in Colorado. We spent our last day there passing time in their tap room since we had a late flight out. Over the course of our trip, we definitely tried every beer they had on tap and they were all great! So needless to say, when we heard there was going to be a Great Divide event, we didn’t even think twice about whether or not we would go, duh!

They had about 7 or 8 beers on tap last night and I think we tried all but one? Maybe we did try them all, I don’t even remember.

First up, Derek ordered a flight that came with the Denver Pale Ale, the Hades Belgian style, the Hoss Rye Lager, and a Yeti (can’t remember which one).

I ordered the Wolfgang, which is a doppelbock and it was the perfect one to start off with. Also, Rattle N Hum has some of the best nachos in the city, so we of course had to order some. Derek and I killed this Chicken Nacho Mountain, and I probably ate more than he did.

On tap:

• Titan IPA
• Yeti Imperial Stout
• Samurai
• Hercules
• Hades
• Scotch Ale
• Hoss Rye Lager
• Rumble IPA
• Belgian Yeti
• Wolfgang
• Denver Pale Ale

We ended up scoring a few free beers from Ann and Dave, who were marketing reps from Great Divide. It was great talking to them and expressing our love for the brewery. We can’t wait to go back to Denver to drink more of their beer straight from the source.

And a free bottle opener!

I have 4 miles on my schedule today, but after all of that beer consuming, I decided to push it to after work tonight. Big surprise, huh?

It kind of works out well though because tomorrow is my 2-a-day and if I’m running tonight as well,  it will be great training for Hood to Coast since I actually will be running 3 times in 24 hours. All 3 runs with be 4 miles each, so it won’t be as much as HTC, but it will definitely help get my legs used to running so much in a short amount of time. So, lets call it a 3-a-day!

Do you get drunk on random Tuesday nights?

Off To Vacation!

Where did this week go? Thankfully it’s Friday because in about 3 hours I am off to to the Bolt Bus and headed to NH for a little mini vacation with my family. I will be spending time on Little Squam Lake for 4 days and I couldn’t be more excited to relax and soak in some sun.

Also, this is the forecast for tomorrow morning:

Hello, long run paradise! Okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but seriously, weather in the 60′s is going to feel amazing after running in 80 and 90 degree weather for the past month.

I did my first 2-a-day yesterday and it went really well! Granted, it was only 3 miles each way, but I’m still glad that I felt good for both runs. I will be doing them for (at least) the next 4 weeks up until Hood to Coast. The mileage is also going to vary for each one and will most likely go up, since I am running legs longer than 3 miles each.

I’ve got 10 miles on deck for tomorrow and I’m so excited to run!!! I have really been looking forward to my long runs every week and I hope to hang onto that enthusiasm throughout training.

I also just bought these for some good long run motivation!

Not sure what my ‘online’ status will be over the next few days, but I’m sure you can expect lots of pictures like this

…and I’m sure I will be blogging about week 3 of training at some point.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

3 hours until vacation!

34 days until Hood to Coast with Nuun!

31 days until I LEAVE for Hood to Coast!

106 days until the NYC Marathon

What are you looking forward to this summer? Any countdowns for you?

Hood To Coast: Runner #3!

Nuun announced our legs for Hood To Coast on Tuesday and I am so happy to report that I got my first choice! I am runner #3 in Van 1 and I will be running Legs 3, 15, and 27.

It feels so real now! It’s getting closer and closer and I am unbelievably excited!!!

Here is a more detailed look at the legs I have to run.

Leg #3

3.93 Miles

Ranked as Easy

Leg #15

7.25 Miles

Ranked as Hard

Leg #27

5.79 Miles

Ranked as Moderate

7 Random Things On My Mind

1. I finally got myself some Sparkly Soul headbands! I picked 2 of them up last week at NYRR headquarters when I picked up my Mini 10k bib. I was told they were the BEST headbands ever and they actually stay on your head. I do love them, but I was skeptical. I have a small head and just like I thought, they didn’t stay. And I do still love them, but unfortunately I will need a good ‘ol bobby pin to keep them put.

2. I’ve been failing a bit at “gearing” up for marathon training. I still have 3 more weeks, so hopefully I can utilize them wisely. My mileage has been pretty low lately, but I have been doing a good job running several days in a row. That has to count for something, right?

3. This happened this past weekend. A run to Doughnut Plant! I ran with Leticia to Doughnut plant where we met up with Carla and her new roommate. The run sucked (for me), but the doughnut of course was delicious. Tres leches = THE BEST DOUGHNUT EVER! Get it.

5. I’ve overdosed on peanut butter. Seriously. The husband and I are a bit broke this week so we’ve been surviving on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the past several days and I just cannot do it anymore. Peanut butter, I’m sorry, but we need to take a break from each other.

6. I’ve made some new blogging/runner friends recently and I am so grateful for all of them! I just wanted to give a shout out to Kristin, another Astorian who has been kicking ass with me at the NYSC UXF classes. Here we are looking bad ass (or angry).

7. I need to buy new shoes. My pair has almost 400 miles on them and although they aren’t maxed out yet, I am hoping to get a new pair very soon. I’m having an internal struggle on what color to get though! This is a huge life decision and I don’t know what to do. Do I go with the yellow or the blue and orange? I do love bright, obnoxious colors, but the blue and orange are cute too, especially since those are NYC Marathon colors.

Which shoes do you think I should get? What’s been on your mind lately?

I Am Running Hood To Coast with Nuun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m still in shock that I actually got picked to run for the Nuun Hood To Coast relay team!

Ahhhhh!!!!! I am so freaking excited, I wanted this so badly and I am stoked to be a part of the team. So many other awesome ladies got chosen as well and I can tell some great friendships will come out of this. What’s even more exciting is that this is my very 1st relay! Yep, my first one will be the mother of all relays, Hood To Coast. Awesome.

Come 2:30 yesterday, I could not focus on anything! I was just waiting and waiting for the minutes to tick by until 3pm hit. I of course freaked out once I saw my name! I had to quadruple check just to make sure I was reading it right I legitimately had a dream the night before that I had made it and I had found out in the middle of the night and woke Derek up to tell him. I know it’s corny, but dreams do come true.

This may not seem like a big deal to some, but it’s a huge deal in my opinion. I am running Hood to Coast representing Nuun!!! Sounds amazing!!!!! Sorry, I know I am yelling a lot and freaking out, but seriously this is going to be some pretty epic shit. I cannot wait for August 24th! Seattle, here I come!!!

I am forever grateful and appreciative, so thank you Nuun, I am unbelievably excited to have this opportunity!!!!

Also, today was the ING NYC Marathon opening day! Anyone get picked? I’m already IN since I did the 9 +1 last year for guaranteed entry. I know it’s super hard to get picked through the lottery, so I am wondering who actually go in?

It sure is going to be a fantastic year of running!

Now only if I my back would hurry up and get better so I can do some run-celebrating.